PM West girls beat Bangor to advance to District 11 championship game

STROUDSBURG — Ramonia Benitez's 1,000th point couldn't have come at a better time for Pocono Mountain West.

JOE MIEGOC

STROUDSBURG — Ramonia Benitez's 1,000th point couldn't have come at a better time for Pocono Mountain West.

Benitez's layup with 56 seconds left made her the third girl in school history to score 1,000 points, but more importantly it gave the top-seeded Panthers a lead they never relinquished in their 43-38 victory over No. 4 Bangor in the semifinals of the District 11 Class AAAA girls basketball playoffs at Stroudsburg High School on Wednesday.

For the first time in school history the Panthers (23-3), who clinched their second PIAA playoff berth, will play in the district final. West will play No. 2 Nazareth at 8 p.m. on Friday at Stroudsburg.

"These girls are so deserving of this," PM West coach Stacy Perryman said. "They've worked so hard and I'm sure every coach can say that about their team, but they've worked for three and four years to get to this point.

"It was a big game and they showed up for it."

Benitez joined Kristin Boesenberg and Adriana Johnson in the 1,000-point club at West, which opened in 2002 when the Pocono Mountain School District split.

It took Benitez, who needed seven points to reach the milestone, until the game's final minute to get there, but her basket was the game's biggest play at the biggest moment.

"I just had to play through it and keep going," Benitez said. "I was nervous the whole game. I didn't know if or when it was coming, but I was just hoping it was soon."

Neither team started well, but the Slaters (19-6), the defending district champs who will play No. 3 Parkland for a spot in the state playoffs at 6 p.m. at Easton Middle School on Friday, led 10-7 after one quarter.

Perryman figured her team would be nervous and they were — West missed its first nine shots — but the Panthers bounced back with a 17-point second quarter to go up 24-17 at the break.

"The momentum we had going in was a big advantage," Perryman said. "At some point I knew there would be a little let up, but I knew if we could handle (Bangor's) run and still execute, it would be a game we could win."

Senior Steph Davis made the Panthers' halftime lead possible.

Davis, an All-MVC first-team pick this season, scored seven of her team-high 15 points in the second quarter including a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left for the half's final points.

"We were all nervous and we didn't get off to a strong start, but we had to stay at it," said Davis, who also had four rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

The Slaters wouldn't go away, thanks largely to the inside play of Morgan McCollian.

The senior center had game highs with 19 points and 17 rebounds and helped Bangor rally in the fourth quarter. McCollian, who scored more points than the rest of the Slaters combined, poured in five straight points, the last two giving Bangor a 33-31 lead with 4:01 to go.

The two teams traded the lead three times over the next 1:43 before a jumper by Bangor's Meredith Colton tied the score at 37-37 with 70 seconds to play.

That set the stage for Benitez, who drove down the right side of the lane and scored on an uncontested layup to give the Panthers the lead for good.

"Not only coming in and playing in a district semifinal game, but having the fact that she was getting close to 1,000 points was even more pressure on her shoulders," Perryman said. "She handled it with such class. Now it's over, she can relax, move on and get back to her style of play."

Benitez will have at least two more games to add to her total, but first the Panthers will celebrate before looking forward to Nazareth.

The bus ride back to Pocono Summit was a fun one Wednesday night, but after midnight West's attention shifted to Friday.

"I'll give them until midnight, they can celebrate until then and we're going to celebrate," Perryman said. "It's going to be a fun bus ride home, but then it's back to work so we can prepare for Friday's game.